(gentle music) - [Announcer] J Schwanke's Life In Bloom is brought to you by Albertsons Companies, with additional support from the following companies: The Ball Horticultural Company, Cal Flowers, Design Master Color Tool, Golden Flowers, Sunshine Bouquet, and TheRibbonRoll.com.

(glasses clinking) - Today, on Life In Bloom, we'll explore the Protea, one of the oldest flowers in the world.

I'll visit a Protea farm, my friend, Jennifer, stops by with a Protea-themed craft, and I'll show you how to arrange and entertain with these exotic flowers.

(gentle music) I'm J Schwanke; welcome to Life In Bloom.

One of the most attractive things about the flowers is their beautiful reserve.

Are you familiar with one of the most exotic flowers?

The stunning Protea has been around since prehistoric times, dating back nearly 300 million years.

(gentle music) There's so many different shapes and sizes.

There's over 16 hundred different kinds of Protea.

We have pincushions that resemble a pincushion.

Great name.

There's Banksias with scalloped, serrated edges on the leaves.

Different types of Protea, kings, queen Proteas, mink, because of their layered feathered edge that looks almost like mink fur.

All of these different flowers are Protea, named after Poseidon's son, Proteus, who was known to change forms and shapes so that people were unable to detect him.

Protea are native to the Southern Hemisphere, specifically South Africa and Australia.

These beautiful flowers were grown on a flower farm in California.

When you think about flower farms, you probably think of rows of flowers or green houses with flowers inside.

That's not the case when it comes to Protea.

These grow in just as exotic of a location as the flowers themselves.

Join me, as I visit Resendiz Brothers and their Protea farm in the mountains of Fallbrook, California.

(gentle music) Mel, this is beautiful stuff.

- Hey, yeah, nice to see you.

Welcome to-- - I wanted to see flowers and you deliver flowers for us.

- Thank you very much.

We have a few here.

(J laughing) So, lots of the pincushions.

- Mel, there's just so many things, here.

There's wax, there's lepto, there's Leucadendron, there's rice flower.

- Your fields must be incredible, right now.

- Well, this is the time of the year that's so beautiful out there, on the range.

(gentle music) - It's such a great value for people, too, 'cause these last and last and last.

I've had them at home, three weeks.

- I think they, yes, they last.

That's the problem; people don't buy very often.

(men laughing) - Mel, I love seeing them in action and seeing them made because it's just so great when we get the visual of how the beautiful bouquets you create come together.

But now, I want to see where they grow.

Can you take us out to the field?

- Absolutely.

- All right, lets go.

(gentle music) - We have some of Grevillea flowers, too.

- That's amazing.

Oh, that color!

Okay, I'm gonna go hike up there.

(gentle music) It's not often that I get to walk around and take stuff off the plant, or have Mel help me (laughing).

- This is my selection that I gave as wax.

- This one is?

- This is one of the ones that I was talking earlier - Okay.

- that we selected that's supposed to germinate in the fields so this is the time of the year where you see the different varieties, or, kinda like a late blooming, it's kinda still bunched open.

This new one, this is like a medium and this is older.

- Okay, so as it stays in the field longer, then it gets darker, it gets a more vibrant color.

- Yes, yes.

(gentle music) - So, Mel, this is pretty tall Kangaroo Paw.

- Yes, they are, and there is some others, they get taller, but this is like a 40 or 48 inches.

- It's as tall as I am.

- Yeah, I think so, see.

- Wow.

- And the one is ready, so, like this one, we have to cut it when this has at least two-- - Two open.

- Two open.

- Okay.

- Then, that means that the other ones are gonna open.

This is two, got a bright color, but it's not ready.

- Okay.

- So, see, this is the flower and it's ready, here.

One, two, three, four, five open ones.

And you see, the other ones are kinda ready to open.

- And with that green on the reverse, a complimentary color scheme like that, that's just absolutely beautiful.

It's gonna cause so much excitement in an arrangement.

(gentle music) At home, we get to go out in our garden, we pick a few flowers and make an arrangement, but this is like being in the best garden in the whole world.

- Thank you.

(gentle music) (flowers rustling) (cutters snipping) - From Mel's private garden.

A toast to Mel Resendiz' beautiful flowers.

(glasses clinking) (gentle music) Today, my friend, Jennifer Ackerman-Haywood, the craft expert from CraftSanity.com, is here to show about block printing.

And she was inspired by Protea.

Jennifer, we met years ago on local TV and you were the craft expert, I was the flower expert.

I like that you've melded this craft in with flowers with Protea.

- Well, you're an inspiring man.

- Oh, well, thank you.

- Yeah.

What I was able to do, you told me you were gonna be working with Protea, - Right.

- so, I thought, "Well, that's really fun."

so, I thought, well, I would make you a t-shirt.

- Stop; this is for me?

- Yes, this is for you.

- Oh, I love it.

- And, so, we have a block, here, so I carved a block and printed you a t-shirt.

And then, I kinda got carried away.

What I like to do is print on fabric and then sew, make patches to sew onto other things.

- Ah ha.

- So, I don't always go directly onto a t-shirt.

- So, a tote bag, you could take to farmer's market-- - You can do it, yeah, a farmers market.

- Grocery store.

- You take better care of your totes (laughing) if they look pretty.

You know what I mean?

- You could also frame this.

- You could; you could frame it, you can wear it, you can have it as an embellishment.

There's many things you can do and we're gonna make some block prints, today.

- You're gonna show us how to do this.

- Yes.

- All right, let's do it.

(gentle music) I like that you used King Protea cynaroides as your inspiration.

- Yes, it was really fun.

So, I had not done a lot of research on this type of flower, - Right.

- and found out a lot of cool things about it and decided to make up a little sketch, here.

When you're gonna do a print, you start out with a sketch.

You can work from photographs, or you can sketch something yourself.

And you, I just use a regular number two pencil, or this is a lead pencil, mechanical pencil, and just sketch it out.

- Okay.

- And then, you flip it over onto a piece of linoleum.

And you can buy this at the craft store.

- So, this is a special linoleum for this.

- Yeah, for printmaking; it's not from the hardware store.

It's not from your floor.

Don't rip up a section of your floor and start to print.

- Got it.

- Unless you're really, (laughing) I guess, adventurous.

And then what, I just use a kitchen spoon and I just (spoon scraping) burnish it in - Oh.

- so, you'll see it starts to appear.

This is a great technique when you're transferring text, as well.

So, it flips the image so when you print it, you end up with exactly what you were starting with.

Okay, so you see, right here.

- Oh, I can see it.

- It transferred.

And then, you can take a peek and see if you missed any spots, here.

All right, so now, we have the image on there, it's pretty light, but I usually hold it just at an angle, here, and I'm just using a little carving tool.

Where'd it go?

This is a basic carving tool and it's actually harder to carve with a basic tool.

What I didn't want to do was a demonstration with very high-end tools.

- Should you be carving away from your hand?

- Oh, yes, you should not, you don't put your hand like that.

I've done it before and I don't recommend it.

- I think I remember that from high school.

- And so, you just keep carving away.

And the first thing I do is I'm outlining, first.

And I'm gonna outline all these lines and then, you can cut away the rest.

So, you're just gonna be left with this basic shape and I've left the leaves.

And I'm just gonna do the accent lines, here.

And then, just highlight those petals.

- So, now we're to print.

- Yes, you're ready to print.

- So, we've conditioned this.

- Yep, we're using ink that's water soluble, which is great because it's affordable, it's easy to clean up.

But it does dry pretty fast.

You really can't do printmaking a wrong way.

The thing I like about printmaking, is everything's different.

Every single time you do a print, - Right.

- it's a different thing.

So, we're just using, we're making patches, here.

- Okay.

- So, we're just using some cotton fabric.

Now, if you want to go ahead and take yours, put it face down.

- Face down on this?

- On the cotton, yep.

- Okay.

(gentle music) Ah, look at it; it's beautiful!

- So, there's some imperfections on here, but I like the fact that it's not perfect.

- Oh, I love, I like that little blob over there 'cause it reminds me of a real Protea.

- Right.

Well, when you look at the leaves and stuff, sometimes, they're not, I mean, there's a lot of symmetry to plants, however, when we look at this - Right.

- It's not, it doesn't look photoshopped.

(Jennifer laughing) - No, it doesn't.

There's that little Jennifer imperfection, here.

- Right, right.

And so, you have the color variations - I love it.

- and so forth, but.

And that's the thing about printmaking.

Every single print is completely different.

And I like that kind of worn look a little bit, too.

- Right, I love that you attach it to it, too, so then, you can personalize it and then, if you want to keep that, you could frame it.

- Right, you can frame it, you can put it on a bag, you can put it on a t-shirt.

- And speaking of wearing, I have a surprise and a tradition.

- Oh, wow.

- We always have flower crowns.

So, this one is for you because it has Protea on the front.

- Wow, this is gorgeous.

- And, so we can wear our flower crafts.

- All right.

Wearable flower art.

- I love it (laughing).

- You look great!

(Jennifer laughing) (gentle music) This is a fun Protea centerpiece that's really easy to make.

We use two cylinder vases and we need five pincushion Protea.

I chose some that were yellow and orange and we'll alternate the colors.

(gentle music) We're gonna cut off the heads and drop them down into the vase.

And then, we'll cover it with water.

(gentle music) You'll notice that the heads of the flowers float.

That's the interesting thing about flowers.

They all float.

So, we're gonna stack these on top of one another, and actually, our candle will hold them into place.

So, cutting each one off short and dropping it into the vase, adding more water.

I'm using clear, cold water.

I haven't added any flower nutrients.

It's actually best to work with clear water for this project.

(gentle music) We'll add water as we go.

That way we'll have the right amount of water so that our flower heads are held down and our candle floats neatly on top.

(gentle music) One of the unique qualities of the Protea is that they dry very well.

Our friend, Mel Resendiz creates beautiful wreaths out of Protea.

(gentle music) And they're ever changing.

As they start to dry, all of the different shades of greens and pinks turn to beautiful shades of tans and beiges.

And you have an everlasting wreath with the dried Protea.

(gentle music) You'll notice, as they start to dry, the color evolution starts to happen, that our leaves are going from green to a chocolate brown.

The bloom itself will also change colors.

(flowers rustling) You can see a great example, here.

This Protea is the same Protea starting to dry.

We see more of the feather-like qualities at the top, and the inside starts to recede.

It's a dried flower that will last for years.

(flowers rustling) King Protea are another variety that dry very well.

The center is almost like a silver felt.

And then, the outside will change from a pink to a dark burgundy, allowing us to enjoy this flower for a longer period of time.

The long-lasting nature of Protea doesn't stop with kings and mink.

This Banksia variety already has a dry quality to it.

The blossoms themselves are soft, almost wool-like, and the interesting, serrated petals dry to a nice sage color.

They come in orange and green and will retain some of that color when cared for property.

The best way to dry your Protea is to hang it upside down in a cool, dark room.

The less light gets to the flower, the more color retention that you'll have.

And over a period of two to three weeks, they'll dry.

Hanging them upside down ensures that when you invert them, they'll still remain in the same shape.

(gentle music) Banksia Protea are also known as bottlebrush because they resemble a brush that you would use to clean a bottle.

I love the fact that the leaves appear as if they've been cut with a pinking shears.

These leaves will also dry as beautifully as the flowers.

Dried Protea, yet another way for you to experience this flower for a longer period of time.

(gentle music) Flower cocktail hour is one of my favorite times of the day.

At five o'clock, we try and do something fun with flowers, and with a cocktail.

And I pick something great to eat.

So, today, we're making a cheese board.

It features all sorts of different local cheeses, along with some almonds, some blackberries, and some honey.

(knife thudding against board) (gentle music) The problem with the wine bottle is it'll only hold one stem of flowers.

So, a great way to up-cycle a decorative bottle like this is to cut off the tops so that it becomes a vase.

Then, I can fill it with several different kinds of Protea.

Then, it makes a great decoration as well.

I can serve the wine and have a decorative vase that matches everything.

(wine gurgling) Flower cocktail hour, wine, cheese, and of course, Protea.

That's life in bloom.

(gentle music) Protea neriifolia, also known as Oleander-leaf Protea.

Pink Mink Protea are native to South Africa.

The Pink Mink plant grows six to 15 feet tall.

The petals of the Pink Mink look like feathers.

Pink Mink are one of the most brightly-colored Proteas.

Pink Mink Protea have cup-shaped flowers that contain nectar.

Leucospermum is named for their resemblance to a pincushion.

Pincushion Protea are native to South Africa.

Protea do not benefit from flower food.

The blooming pincushion is made up of many small flowers, a composite bloom, along with bracts, which are modified leaves.

The pins in the pincushion are the pistols of each individual flower.

Protea are actually considered woody shrubs or trees.

Depending on the variety of a pincushion, the shrubs will be four to eight feet tall.

Pincushions last, as cut flowers, for two to three weeks.

In their natural South African habitat, the seeds produced for the pincushion Protea are gathered up by ants and buried in the soil.

Only after a fire has killed the overgrowing plants and return their nutrients to the soil, do the seeds germinate to produce more of these spectacular blooms.

(gentle music) I hope you've become as captivated by Protea as I am.

This wild and exotic flower is stunning, versatile and long lasting.

And there're endless ways to use it.

From Life In Bloom, I'm J Schwanke.

See you next time.

- And it should feel-- - I feel like I'm driving a ship.

(Jennifer laughing) Okay, now when you-- - Okay.

- Okay, keep going.

Now, we're gonna feel some tension.

- Oh, that's why you said - That's why I said, That's why I said-- - don't worry.

- But that's okay.

- Back all the way through.

- That's okay, let me stand over here.

- Okay.

- That's all right.

- This is where J screwed up.

- No, it's okay.

It's all right.

We'll make it work.

- Do you like my, okay, so the thing I love about flower crafts is when people put 'em on, they always smile and they look happy.

- Well, yeah, you feel like, but I feel like we are royalty now.

- Exactly.

- Yeah.

- Printing Protea royally.

(laughing) It's perfect.

- I don't know if the high-five wasn't it the script.

I didn't know what else to do.

I'm like, well, I have a crown on my head, I should high-five someone.

I would've high-fived you, but I couldn't get it over, over there, the high five.

- Is that good?

J Schwanke's Life In Bloom is filmed in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

(gentle music) - [Announcer] J Schwanke's Life In Bloom is brought to you by Albertsons Companies, with additional support from the following companies: The Ball Horticultural Company, Cal Flowers, Design Master Color Tool, Golden Flowers, Sunshine Bouquet, and TheRibbonRoll.com.

(gentle music) Closed caption funding provided by Chrysal.

For everything flowers, recipes, projects, and more information, visit uBloom.com.

(dynamic music)